Episode 5 What to Buy and Why

Hello, and welcome to Edinburgh

for the show that asks the top professionals

what you should be spending your money on.

Enjoy your stay.

I am Cherry Healy and in this series,

I'm travelling to spectacular locations all around Britain

to ask the country's best experts how you can shop like a pro.

Argh! LAUGHTER

From cordless vacuums to coffee machines,

our specialists will push the most popular products to their limits

to help you choose what to buy and why.

Tonight, we are in the city's most famous hotel

to ask the Michelin-starred chefs

how much you should be spending on a food processor.

I've never seen an attachment like this before.

It's like a UFO.

And we make full use of the five-star facilities

to find the best value e-reader.

-"Read now" - got it.

-Well done.

Also in the programme, our reporter Naga Munchetty

reveals how to resist the latest tactics the shops use

to make us spend more.

I'm not convinced I've been manipulated here, have I?

The whole point of these tricks are they're not detectable.

And we'll have more ingenious money-saving tricks of the trade.

So, if you want the inside track on the latest products

from the people really in the know, then look no further.

This is What To Buy And Why.

Recognisable by its famous clock tower,

the five-star Balmoral Hotel is located in the heart of Edinburgh.

Royalty, prime ministers and film stars have all stayed here,

enjoying the period features and fine dining.

So where better to test out

the latest must-have kitchen products

than here at the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant,

Number One?

-Is that dish ready?

-I'm on it!

SHE CRIES

The restaurant is run by executive chef Jeff Bland

and head chef Brian Grigor.

And you have the Holy Grail for restaurants -

you have a Michelin star.

We've had the star for 14 years, now.

We've always had the same kind of philosophy of consistency.

It's the guests coming back that keep the whole thing working.

So making food for this number of people,

you must have the best equipment available.

We also need the most reliable equipment

and that is what also brings consistency.

Time to put that expertise to work,

testing a kitchen appliance that is so popular,

we spend more than £90 million a year on them -

food processors.

But, with such huge range in prices,

choosing one can be a bit of a minefield -

how do you know how much to spend?

Who better to ask than our Michelin-starred chef, Jeff?

We have three machines to test

that range in price from £80

to a whopping £340.

When you go to purchase these things,

you've got to look at what can it make

and what are you actually going to do with it.

So, Jeff, what are we going to do with these machines today?

Today, we're going to concentrate on doing some slicing,

which is probably what you would use them for most.

We are warming our machines up slicing cucumbers.

Our cheapest is the £80 Kenwood Multipro.

You have got actual slices there.

-Yes.

-And they're all the same thickness.

The mid-price Braun Identity costs £190.

It's slightly thicker - it's done a good job, though, hasn't it?

And the most expensive,

the £340 Sage by Heston Blumenthal.

It executed the job well.

You've got a decent sliced cucumber from each one of them.

But cucumbers are soft and easy to slice,

so Jeff has something a bit trickier in mind.

Carrots are obviously a lot sturdier

and we'll see if the motor can cope with that.

Start your engines.

So let's have a look at the sliced carrots.

How does our cheapest processor cope?

I think it is fairly a thin slice.

-Well...pretty good.

-Pretty good.

-Pretty good.

-Yeah.

Does our mid-price machine fare better?

-It's chopped a few, hasn't it? And...

-Yes.

There is quite a lot of bits,

but there are some very nice ones, too.

And will the most expensive justify its price tag?

Less bits in this.

You have the adjustable thickness.

That is a nice thickness, but you can have it thicker or thinner.

That is a better product.

Whether you believe it is worth paying the extra...

So, how else can we test these

to really show what they're capable of?

They have a whipping element to these,

so I think if we just try and simply whip some cream

and see what happens, it'll be a good test.

Let's do that.

With not much to choose between our three processors

except for the price,

will their whisking technique help decide a winner?

I can see that the equipment is different for each of them.

Yeah. With this one, we've got a traditional whisk

and it just sits on like that.

Pour the cream in, then we can pop the sugar in,

just help it...

PROCESSOR WHIRS

We are just going to see how long it's going to take to get thick.

I think, to be fair, it's done a decent job.

-It didn't take very long.

-About a minute. It is solid...

The cream is there.

Perfectly whipped cream from our cheapest machine

in precisely 58 seconds.

Product number two.

What would you call that?

-It's more like a paddle, isn't it?

-A paddle.

OK, here we go.

CHERRY LAUGHS

I believe in it. You know? It's working.

It's solid as a rock.

-Wow - those paddles do work well.

-Yeah, it's very, very quick.

Only 20 seconds to do the job with the mid-priced processor.

So, shall we see if our most expensive machine

is the creme de la creme of whipping...creme?

I've never seen an attachment like this before.

It's like a UFO.

I'm excited to see how it works.

-Are you ready?

-Yes, let's do it.

MACHINE GOES SILENT

-It's hard to see... Oh, there. Oh, wow!

-Yeah.

-I mean, that was...

Six seconds?

-It was actually 13.

-13 seconds!

You've got a little timer on there as well.

OK, well, let's see what it looks like.

OK, there we go.

Good consistency, very quick.

So, it seems like the consistency, the end product, it's all the same.

Yeah, it's a very similar product. I think...

You know, obviously, the only difference is time.

Whipping done, all that's left is for the chef's final verdict.

If I am buying it for home

and I am just going to use it at home occasionally,

the Kenwood is the one I would go for.

So, Jeff the chef has chosen

the cheapest food processor of the bunch.

It did everything we needed it to do

and you'd probably use it quite often.

-It's user-friendly and it won't break the bank.

-Yeah.

In response, Braun told us its machine has 1,000 watts of power,

intelligent preset programmes, and ten different accessories,

which makes it versatile and easy to use.

And Sage told us that the Kitchen Wizz Pro

is designed to make food preparation better, simpler and faster,

whilst broadening your cooking scope

and getting the best results from your ingredients.

So now we've got all this cream, have you got any strawberries handy?

Or maybe a bit of cake?

We've always got cake here.

We'll be back with our chefs later

as they reveal an appliance they think you should be buying

and it's a surprising blast from the past.

This series is all about giving you

the top tips from the best in the business,

so here is another collection of ingenious tricks of the trade.

My name is Arnold Shine, so it's no surprise I'm a cleaner.

A cheap and cheerful way of cleaning your tile grouting

is with some cola.

It works so well because it is acidic

and it cuts through the ground.

You just get an old sponge, dip it in,

and scrub at the grouting.

It should come up like new.

Cola can also be used to clean tarnished brass.

Just pop a little bit on your sponge,

wipe on the brass and it'll come up like a dime.

I'm Will, I'm a furniture restorer.

Leaving a hot, wet cup on wooden furniture

will leave white ring marks.

To get rid of these, put a cloth over the mark,

and iron on a medium heat.

Don't go any hotter, or you can damage the wood.

Then lift the cloth away and the mark will have vanished.

I'm Jen. I'm a housekeeper.

Furniture can leave dents in the carpets

and this can be removed very easily

by placing an ice cube into the centre of the dent

and leaving it until it's completely melted.

This will make the fibres open up and spring back

and then the dent will disappear.

Still come, we will be putting

the two biggest e-readers head-to-head

to help you decide which one to buy.

But first, reporter Naga Munchetty

investigates the secret methods shops can use to make us spend more.

In the UK, nine out of ten of us make at least one impulse buy

every time we go shopping.

But those little purchases add up to a lifetime spend

of around £50,000 per individual.

So, we are all happy to splash the cash, but why is that?

The latest tool in the retailers' box

to make us spend more is something called sensory marketing.

We asked 20 of our biggest high-street stores

if they employ the technique.

Four said they didn't, but the other 16

said they didn't want to talk to us about it.

So, because the shops won't tell us...

..we've arranged to have this place rigged

by a consumer psychologist using the techniques

that are used to manipulate us to buy,

so I'm going to go in, have a look around,

see what I notice, see how I feel.

Now, I know this shop has been set up

to make me want to spend money,

but it just seems...well, normal.

That's quite nice.

Time to meet the man behind all this, Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos,

head of consumer psychology at UCL

and the man who retailers come to

when they want to influence a shopper's subconscious.

I'm not convinced I've been manipulated here, have I?

The whole point of these tricks are they're not detectable.

So, actually, I'm not even supposed to know.

Absolutely. We call them nudges.

Nudges are techniques used by shops to deliberately alter your mood,

but how are they implemented?

So, one of the first things you have been hit with

when you enter the store is this diffuser.

It really engages your senses, to put you at ease, to relax,

to put you in the mood to spend more time in the store.

Smell is linked to memory and shops are fully aware.

Perfumes or scents that you normally associate with a happy memory,

perhaps a holiday abroad,

so when they are associating this, you are feeling at ease.

So it is not necessarily the scent per se

that makes you purchase more -

it's the association that you might be having with that scent.

So they are basically trying to put us in a happy place

so we are happy to spend money.

Indeed - in a happy, safe place

that you feel you aren't interrupted.

Next up, visual nudges.

Red signs like this do more than just offer discounts.

The colour red is normally something that strikes us to take action.

In a retail environment,

we are in driven by the fear of missing out on an opportunity,

rather than gaining something new.

So, even this is something I'm not naturally drawn to,

this sign will make me at least be in this area.

So your fear of missing out on what might be there

will drive you to go and explore the sales.

Next, touch.

The end of a clothing rail, for instance,

they will place an item that will attract you

to touch and engage with it.

-Such as a glittery jacket.

-Absolutely.

There is a lot of studies out there

to indicate that the more we touch and the more we engage with an item,

the more likely we are to purchase that item.

Touching a product will make you 30% more likely to buy it.

And finally, sound.

We are in a vintage clothing store. So it will highlight that.

The music will be Motown. The pace of music is quite important.

When retailers want you to stay for longer

and enjoy your journey with them,

they will play really, really slow-paced music,

whereas where they want you to move fast,

they will play fast paced music.

MUSIC: I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye

So typically, where would I hear fast-paced music?

Normally massive stores.

MUSIC: I Heard It Through The Grapevine by The Slits

They know that if you want to buy something from them, you will, so they will try to usher you up

to other floors to spend more money there.

So, there you have it - sensory marketing techniques

are used to influence us a lot.

So it is down to you to put up your defences.

Next time you are out on the high street, think -

think about what you are looking at, what you're hearing,

what you're smelling, what you are feeling,

because that is how they influence us.

Next time, perhaps we'll buy what we need

rather than what they want us to.

It's the time of year we start thinking about a summer break,

so we are turning our attention to that important holiday companion,

the e-reader.

But how do you know which one to choose?

I have the perfect place to find out.

This is Room Number 552 -

a place with a unique claim to literary fame.

Back in 2007, this is where JK Rowling

completed Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.

When she finished the book, she signed this bust,

instantly turning this room

into a place of pilgrimage for Potter fans.

So where better to start off our e-reader challenge?

Hi, Philip.

Helping me test them is Philip Jones,

editor of Britain's leading publishing magazine,

The Bookseller.

These are the latest, sort of, generation of e-readers.

One by Amazon, the Kindle, and one by Kobo,

which is the main competitor in the marketplace.

Since its release in 2007,

Amazon has dominated the e-reader market.

Its most popular model is their £100 Paperwhite.

With the Kobo costing a fraction less,

is this the e-reader to finally dethrone the Kindle?

E-readers are so incredibly convenient.

You've got access to 2 million books on here

that you could never hope to carry with you when going on holiday.

It'd be even difficult to carry the full Harry Potter Series.

For our first test, we are going to see how easy it is

to download books on each device

and given where we are, there is really only one title to choose.

Who can download Deathly Hallows first?

-OK, let's do it.

-OK.

I have the Kobo, Philip has the Kindle.

-Heading to the Kindle store.

-It's pretty easy.

Searching for...Harry Potter.

Looking for Deathly Hallows.

Found it - click...

Purchase.

-OK, here we go.

-I've now got the Deathly Hallows to read.

Me, too.

"Read now" - got it.

Well done.

So, they seem pretty similar in their set-up

and how easy they are to use.

How else can you test them?

Well, I think testing them in various lighting conditions

is really quite key.

With an e-book reader, one of the big disadvantages it had

was the perception you couldn't read in very low light

or very high, sharp light.

OK well, let's test it out.

Let's do really low light first

-and then we will go for a snoop around the hotel.

-OK.

It's dark in here, and I can see this brilliantly

and it's not even on its maximum setting.

So, they seem pretty similar.

The light is probably the same.

I mean, the backlit e-readers are fairly recent,

-so they will be the more pricey devices.

-Yes.

But I think they are well worth it.

Well, I am going to have a little kip,

but, you know, you carry on reading.

-I'm mid-chapter. I'll carry on.

-Night!

So nothing to separate our devices after the low light test.

How about in the full glare of the sun?

How do these two compare when you are sitting in the sun on a beach?

Well, they have got both got very long battery life, which helps.

You can turn up the backlight as high as you want

and that will enable you to read even when there is bright sunlight.

You can change the font size on both to make it even more legible,

but purely based on the device,

it's very hard to choose between the two.

So I can see that there is very little difference

between these two devices.

Where did they really show their differences?

You don't buy an e-reader because the device is the most beautiful piece of kit.

You buy it because there is a store that you go to

to buy the most widely available e-books on the market

and you want them to be keenly priced.

OK. Let's download some bestsellers.

To see which device has the cheapest store,

we are downloading the same eight Sunday Times bestselling books.

OK. How much did yours come to?

Mine came to a grand total of £36.

How vexing. Mine was 42.

£6 is quite a lot. That can really add up.

-It does make a difference.

-It's significant when

you've spent £100 on the e-reader in the first place.

So Kindle is cheaper, but do you get more options?

So we checked.

All of the top 20 Kobo bestsellers were available for Kindle,

but you could only get 15 of the top 20 Kindle bestsellers on Kobo.

'Simply put, Amazon have a bigger range of books available.'

So, as the expert, what would you spend your money on?

For consumers, it's really hard not to end up in the Kindle universe.

Amazon is just still, I think, a nose ahead of any competitor,

including the Kobo.

'In response, Kobo told us

'it's continually adding to its library and working with

'publishers to offer discounted prices across a range of titles.

'The company says it has something to suit any reader's tastes.'

Well, let's cheers to printed books. They'll always be a beautiful thing,

but these are pretty handy, aren't they?

They're a good substitute, but not yet a replacement. Cheers.

Fed up of flowers dying as soon as you've bought them?

Here are our expert florists

with ways to keep them in bloom for longer.

Here, we design flowers for film and TV.

Though it can be extremely disappointing

if your very expensive hydrangea has suddenly wilted

for no apparent reason, there is a way to revive them.

Plunge them upside down into very deep water.

The whole way down, completely submerge them,

and then you keep them underwater for maybe three hours

and then, they come out completely revitalised.

Hi, my name's Albert, this stall's been in my family for 140 years,

so I've been brought up on this market.

Make sure, when you're buying roses, that the outer petals

have not been damaged and that they're very firm.

If they're really firm, they'll last you a lot longer.

So, the best ways to keep your flowers fresh

is to keep your water fresh.

So, take off all the lower leaves, because the lower leaves

are the things that breed bacteria under the water.

So, if you want to keep it absolutely crystal clear,

put some baby steriliser in the water

and that will keep your water crystal clear.

Back in Edinburgh,

we return to the Balmoral's Michelin-starred restaurant.

Head chef Brian thinks there's a retro device making a comeback

that can reduce the amount of time we need in the kitchen

and still allow us to create gourmet dishes.

You might well be surprised what it is.

# ..takes a long time

# The odour of old prison food takes a long time to pass you by... #

Brian, what have you decided to test today?

I'm just going to let you try two pieces of chicken,

which have been cooked differently.

Is this a bit of a clue for what we're testing?

-It is a little bit of a clue, yeah.

-OK. So, chicken number one.

-Yeah.

-Mmm, chicken-y! So, I'm assuming that this is really chicken?

-Yeah.

-That's not the test?

-It's still chicken.

-OK, chicken number two.

You know what? I can't really tell the difference.

This one whole chicken was cooked in 25 minutes.

And this one was cooked in 45 minutes.

How did you cook an entire chicken in 25 minutes?

We used a pressure cooker.

'Did he just say a pressure cooker?!

'If you still picture these '70s devices rattling away,

'about to blow a gasket, think again!

'Today's versions are safe, simple to use and popular.

'Sales were up 66% last year.'

I actually bought one myself not that long ago.

So you're a Michelin-starred chef...

-Yeah.

-..and you have a pressure cooker at home?

-Yeah.

I think they're really good.

You know, the flavour can't escape anywhere, so it's getting

pushed back down into the chicken, so it's still nice and moist.

-I think it's a really good product.

-Mmm!

'But how much should you spend on one? To find out,

'Brian's rustling up three identical oxtail ravioli dishes,

'cooked in three very differently-priced machines.'

In the kitchen, this would take around four hours to do,

-but I'm going to do this in less than one hour.

-Wow!

We put the lids on and we bring that up really quickly.

When it's at presasure, we drop the heat down, we'll set our timer

and, within 45 minutes, this meat will be falling off the bone.

'So, what differences does Brian see between the machines?

'First, our cheapest pressure cooker - the Prestige High Dome.'

So this one's aluminium. And this can't go through the dishwasher.

'And, unlike the pricier options, it can't be used on induction stoves.'

LOUD HISSING Ah! And it's really noisy!

And it's like an angry animal.

So that tells you that it's up to pressure.

'Next, our midpriced option - the Tefal Clipso.'

This one is dishwasher safe and suitable to use

on all different stoves that you might have at home.

-OK.

-It has a little indicator on the top.

When the red button comes to the top,

then that means it's at full pressure.

'Finally, the most expensive - Kuhn Rikon's Bluetooth pressure cooker.'

The good thing about this one is it is Bluetooth compatible.

So you can download an app on your phone.

It'll tell you when to heat the pot up, at what temperature,

how long to cook it for, and when it's ready to take off

and when your food's ready.

'40 minutes later and the meat is looking tender.'

So, they all look identical, but do they taste the same?

Well, I think we should take a seat in the restaurant

and I'll rustle something up and you can tell me what you think.

That sounds like a really lovely plan.

'So, I leave Brian to it as he uses the meat

'from each of the cookers to make three plates of gourmet ravioli.'

# ..I can't help myself! #

That's like heaven on a plate!

-You're really good! You should do this for a living!

-I should, yeah!

I want to eat the entire thing!

But I'm going to try and be professional

and move on to the next one.

That was pretty amazing.

Lastly, the most expensive of the pressure cookers.

Maybe my taste buds aren't very sophisticated -

it is probably that - but it tastes exactly the same.

I think that's the thing between these three cookers is that

you need to make sure that you're buying the one

that's in your right budget, it works for your stove that you have

at home, and it has the controls on it that you feel comfortable using.

So, the big question - as the professional,

what would you spend your money on?

The least expensive one is made of aluminium,

which is not going to go through your dishwasher,

so it's probably not the best one out of the three

and then, the most expensive one,

it's about twice the price of the middle-priced one.

It's gotta be the Tefal mid-range.

I think it's really well made, it does the job

that it needs to do and it's quite user-friendly as well.

'In response, Prestige said the High Dome is its entry-level

'pressure cooker and that it has nine others available,

'most of which are dishwasher safe and induction suitable.

'And Kuhn Rikon said it also offers models across the price range,

'but emphasises that this is the only one on the market

'that is Bluetooth-enabled.'

Well, thank you very much. The PRESSURE is now off!

You can relax. I've got some work to do.

SHE SIGHS

'That's it from Edinburgh.

'Next week, we end our nationwide shopping trip in Manchester,

'where we learn whether you should be

'replacing your traditional vacuum with the latest cordless version.'

I don't know what animal's been rolling around on this carpet,

but it had some fun!

'Naga channels Top Gun to put luggage through its paces.

'And we have our final batch of invaluable tricks of the trade.'

If you are using an undercoat and gloss,

be sure to use the same brand of both.

The reason for this is, if you don't,

you could have a chemical reaction on your hands

that will turn your lovely white into yellow!